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Leader of the United Progressive Party (UPP) Lynette Eastmond has dismissed the Barbados Labour Party's (BLP) promises to reduce taxation, should it win the May 24 general election, as nothing but “lies” and “gimmicks”.

Addressing a handful of supporters in Heroes Square, The City, on Saturday night as the party formally introduced its 23 candidates to contest the highly anticipated poll, Eastmond charged that the Mia Mottley-led BLP, which released its manifesto on Thursday, had failed to present a credible strategy for growing the economy.

At the same time, she warned electors to be wary of politicians seeking to buy votes.

“We are not going to do it [form the next Government] by trying to buy your votes. We are doing it by coming to you with clear policies, and this is why I could say at the outset, you cannot cut anything as soon as you get [in Government]. Anybody who is trying to tell you that as soon as they get in there that they can start cutting taxes, it is a lie.

"It is a lie. It is a bold face lie,” Eastmond cautioned.

[caption id="attachment_237209" align="alignnone" width="650"] UPP leader Lynette Eastmond[/caption]

It was during Thursday's manifesto launch that the BLP announced plans to abolish the contentious National Social Responsibility Levy (NSRL), reduce the Value Added Tax from 17.5 per cent to 15 per cent and replace the road tax with “a small tax on fuel”.

In addition to a promised increase in non-contributory pensions, the BLP also pledged to remove tuition fees for Barbadians attending the University of the West Indies.

However, zeroing in on the planned abolition of road tax, Eastmond charged that it was nothing but “foolishness”, while accusing the BLP of trying to put “plasters over old sores”.

“How is it that a country that just had 21 downgrades and was printing money could suddenly reduce the tax take? How are you going to pay the civil servants, how are you going to keep the buses running? How are you going to keep the sanitation trucks running?” the UPP leader, who was a former BLP member and Cabinet minister in a previous Owen Arthur-led BLP administration, asked.

“It could only be that they think that we are idiots to believe that when you get in there that you could cut something. And then they are telling you that they are going to get rid of road tax and that you will pay taxes at the pump. How are you going to monitor that? . . . We have to use [our minds] and stop listening to the gimmicks.

"What is removing road tax going to suddenly do? What is the plan for the economy?”

The UPP leader went on to explain that the first plan of action for the UPP should it form the next Government was to tackle the issue of corruption, insisting that Barbados had “suffered under the hands of the labourites, who believe that Barbadians forever must be hewers [of wood] and drawers of water and that we should never own businesses.

“So the first thing that we plan to cut isn’t the NSRL. The first thing that we plan to cut is the corruption,” said Eastmond, adding that she had no doubt that her party could run the country because “I was there and I know how it is done”.

Eastmond also explained that the UPP would be encouraging and facilitating greater entrepreneurship growth, while insisting that the creative economy was “the next big sector” for Barbados.

In fact, Eastmond said her plan was to “take a small sum” from tourism to fund the creative sector.

The UPP also plans to build an online platform for creative industry professionals to showcase and sell their products and services.

In further outlining the UPP’s plan for the economy, Eastmond said her administration would cut the island’s over half-a-billion dollar energy bill by upping the ante in expanding the renewable energy sector; reducing the country’s high import bill by placing heavy emphasis on agriculture production; and revamping “some aspects” of the manufacturing sector.

She did not say what the UPP’s plans were regarding the size of the public sector or the number of state-owned enterprises.

However, on the issue of education, Eastmond said it was the “desire” of the UPP to eventually have “free university education". However, she warned that this goal could not be done “in one fell swoop”.

“If the country ain’t got no money, how are we going to do it? We are not going to make you any false promises. We are pegging our hopes on that creative economy, bringing agriculture back into production, enhancing the tourism product, focusing on getting some aspects of manufacturing back on its feet,” she said.

“So we are looking at earning money. When people ask me about the first thing you are going to cut, that is not the question. The question is how are you going to earn new money. That is the question. And the United Progressive Party is the only party that has come to you with an answer.

"It is doable. I know how to do it because I was there when it was being done in the international business sector, so it can be done.

"It is manageable and doable, but we have to be very careful,” she stressed, adding that “we will reduce taxes gradually, at the same time when we are increasing revenue”.

Labelling her team as “the fearless 23”, Eastmond also poked fun at both the BLP and Democratic Labour Party, saying, “We ain’t got no Eager 11. We ain’t got no Eager seven. We ain’t got nobody plotting to dethrone the leader.”

“Nobody in here ain’t saying that when we get in there we gine move she. Nobody ain’t saying we gine put somebody from St Joseph. We like one another and we got a plan and a programme that makes sense,” said Eastmond, who also pointed out that she had her certificate to show that she had an LLM in commercial law with taxation.

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The United Progressive Party (UPP) candidate for St John Hudson Griffith is confident of capturing the majority of the over 5,000 votes in that rural parish in the May 24 general election.

St John, which has long been a Democratic Labour Party (DLP) stronghold, is also being contested by the DLP's George Pilgrim, Charles Griffith of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), Cherone Martindale of Solutions Barbados and independent candidate Leroy McClean, who is also a member of the DLP.

In the 2013 election, the UPP's Griffith, who was then a member of the BLP, had captured 1,091 votes, losing to Mara Thompson, who copped 4,025 votes for the incumbent party. However, addressing his party's launch in Heroes Square on Saturday night, he said expects to win the seat in the upcoming poll.

“We are going to bring home this election from St John,” declared the former BLP representive who previously lost in both a by-election and a general election in St John.

However, while boasting that he was the third person for the BLP to capture over 1,000 votes in the DLP stronghold, Griffith said he was pleased to be representing the UPP this time around, adding that the BLP's candidate Charles Griffith “cannot pull it off”.

“I have outlasted Mara Thompson in St John. I am the next rightful person to represent the St John constituency for the United Progressive Party,” Griffith added.

[caption id="attachment_237212" align="alignnone" width="650"] Hutson Griffith[/caption]

Outlining his plans for the constituency should the UPP form the next Government, Griffith said he would help people who do not yet own the land they were living on.

He also promised to develop the old polyclinic and its surrounding area into “a full sporting centre and indoor playing facility with accommodation” and to start the process of redeveloping Four Roads into a mini town centre and business centre.

The UPP candidate also said he had already identified at least three areas in the parish for new housing developments.

“When the process is ready I will start discussion,” he said, adding that it would help to create employment for a number of skilled workers.

While not giving details, the UPP hopeful also stated that he would “facilitate approval of tourist attractions”, while listing several areas in the parish, including the Codrington College, St John Parish Church, Martins Bay and Consett Bay.

The political hopeful also said he would ensure St John was used as the primary place for the "rebirth of a strong agriculture development”.

Also addressing the launch, UPP candidate for St Michael West Central Herman Lowe, who is the party's lead agriculture spokesman, promised that the UPP would place more emphasis on developing the sector in an effort to drive down the country’s high food import bill and to help grow the economy.

While promising to “deliver” the country, Lowe likened the leaders of the DLP and BLP to a jockey, saying they were too heavy and poorly trained.

Meantime, UPP candidate for St George North Everton Heru Holigan promised to focus on driving down the number of non-communicable diseases plaguing the country and by extension the country's massive health care bill through policies and measures, including the strategic establishment of gyms in communities across the island.

“It is through the community development policies that we would bring back the understanding of the body, that we would teach how to prepare our natural foods that we will encourage more agriculture. Through these policies we are hoping that instead of projecting doom and gloom, we will be projecting [progress in the fight against] diabetes, hypertension, strokes [and] cancer, which is on a rampant right now in our society,” said Holigan, adding that every resident would also have to play their part.

Urging Barbadians who are still undecided about voting in two weeks to go out and vote for the UPP, the party’s candidates, as they were introduced, insisted that they were ready to tackle high youth unemployment, poverty, better assist the elderly, stomp out corruption, deal with the country’s high debt, and solve issues relating to public transportation and the sewerage system.

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Election day workers, including police, are to cast their ballots a week ahead of the May 24 general election.

The announcement came in a public notice released at the weekend by Chief Electoral Officer Angela Taylor in which she said special polling will take place on May 17, between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.

[caption id="attachment_236860" align="alignnone" width="650"] Angela Taylor[/caption]

Following is the full notice released by the Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

“THE GOVERNOR GENERAL, by Order, appointed the 17th day of May, 2018 as the date of the poll for election officers voting at the election to be held on the 24th day of May, 2018. The Supervisor of Elections, in accordance with rule 30(3) of the Rules for Conduct of the House of Assembly Elections set out in the Second Schedule to the Representation of the People Act, Cap.12, hereby gives notice that the poll of election officers including members of the Royal Barbados Police Force will be taken on THURSDAY THE 17TH DAY OF MAY, 2018, during the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. at the following polling stations:-

Constituency Centre

City of Bridgetown Donald Henry Auditorium, Bethel, Bay Street

St. Michael South Dalkeith Old School

St. Michael East Barbados Community College (Auditorium)

St. Michael South Central Pax Hill Girl Guides Head Quarters, Belmont Road

St. Michael Central The Library, Combermere School

St. Michael South East Church of the Nazarene, Collymore Rock

St. Michael North East Grace Hill Moravian Church, Spooners Hill,

St. Michael North C.E.F Miracle Centre, Lodge Hill

St. Michael North West Carlton Club House, Carlton, Black Rock

St. Michael West Bethany Evangelical Church, Eagle Hall

St. Michael West Central Skills Training Centre, Belfield Pavilion, Black Rock

Christ Church West Bonnets Resource Centre, Bonnets, Brittons Hill

Christ Church West Central Christ Church Parish Church Hall

Christ Church South Cuthbert Pilgrim Memorial Hall, Maxwell Road

Christ Church East Central Garfield Sobers Gymnasium

Christ Church East Waithe Memorial Auditorium, Providence,

St. Philip North Shrewsbury Methodist Church

St. Philip South Methodist Church, Rices

St. Philip West Wayne Daniel Pavilion, Brereton

St. George North Valley Resource Centre

St. George South Ellerton Community Centre

St. John BRC Building, St. John’s Parish Church

St. Joseph Clifton Hill Moravian Church

St. Thomas Vestry, Sharon Moravian Church

St. James North Sion Hill Community Centre

St. James South Caribbean Meteorological Institute, Husbands, St. James

St. James Central Trents Community Centre

St. Peter Alma Parris Memorial School

St. Andrew St. Saviour’s Church Annex

St. Lucy The William Donald George Parish Centre (Old St. Lucy’s Rectory)

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The Barbados Meteorological Services says the central Atlantic high pressure system will remain the dominant feature.

Today will be fair to occasionally cloudy and windy with a few scattered showers.

Winds are E - ENE at 25 to 45 km/h.

Seas are moderate to rough in open water with swells from 1.5m to 2.5m.

Small craft operators and sea bathers should exercise caution.

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Former parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Education Harry Husbands said that his Government’s focus on early childhood education has been so successful that it has drawn the attention of other Caribbean islands.

“I had the pleasure of taking the minister of Education from the Bahamas on a tour of some of our new schools in order for him to see them," Husbands said.

"The story of the success of Barbados in this early childhood programme has gone wide around the Caribbean and has been spread internationally. Ministers of education have been coming to see the innovation and creativity that the Ministry of Education under this Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Government has brought to Barbados.”

The DLP candidate for St James North was speaking at a meeting in Orange Hill, St James Friday night where he endorsed the candidacy of Irene Sandiford Garner. He said the resources spent on early childhood must be seen as an investment

“We embarked on a strategy of building more early childhood institutions with the help of the Maria Holder Trust. Studies show that the earlier you interact with the children the better they are likely to be… better in their homes, better discipline, better in their homes, better citizens. The benefits will not be recognised tomorrow or next week but it is an investment in the future of the country.”

He refuted claims that the ministry only focussed on the high flyers and not the students with specialised needs.

“I was present at the first graduation of over 60 teachers who have been trained specially to deal with autism spectrum disorder. They were trained by a Canadian university. This September we are planning to implement more training to address other developmental disorder,” he said.

The former president of BUT added that 1000 teachers had been appointed in two years, 700 in primary school and another 300 at the secondary school level.

He said he was proud to report that the DLP had doubled the number of sixth form schools in Barbados. He also said that the introduction of the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) programme allows students to leave school with the regionally recognised certificate even if they failed to gain a Caribbean Examination Council.

He declared that all of this shows why Barbados was ranked the 9^th highest educational system in the world. (IMC)

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Fire of unknown origin destroyed two houses at Ceres Land, Grazettes, St Michael on Saturday.

The fire which occurred about noon destroyed a wooden house owned and occupied by David Hinds, 57; and a wood and wall house owned by Sophia Jaimangal, 52, and Nicole Callender, 35.

The fire also damaged the trimmings to the roof and to the water heater of a wall house owned by Gloria Nowell.

Jaimangal said she was awakened by the smell of smoke and went to her bathroom window to investigate but was thrown back by the heat coming from Hinds’ house.

Jaimangal was unable to save her property but managed to remove some articles of clothing.

Divisional officer Gittens, Station Officers Vaughn and Hinds along with 12 officers, three fire tenders and a water tanker responded and extinguished the fire.

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Police are investigating after fire of unknown origin damaged two cars in St. Michael yesterday.

Both vehicles were parked in a garage owned by Paul Williams, 54, located at the corner of Redman Road and Weekes Land, Goodland, St Michael.

Williams, an auto body repairman, operates a business adjoining his residence.

At around 4 p.m. Williams, who was not home at the time, was informed by a friend that his house was on fire. He returned to his residence and found the vehicles partially burnt.

One fire tender with four fire officers from the Probyn Street Station extinguished the fire.

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Change is going to come!

That assurance was given by the Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley to the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) faithful who were gathered at Speightstown, St Peter Saturday night.

The crowd stood in the pouring rain and gusty winds geared with umbrellas and raincoats as the party leader spoke about the “winds of change” that is passing over Barbados.

“A wind of change is in the air. These are showers of blessings. Change is going to come when we say to pensioners that your minimum non-contributory pension goes form $155 a week to $225 a week. Change is going to come for public servants for teachers, nurses, security forces, customs officers and general people in the public service. We have committed to you that if you don’t get a salary increase within the first three months we are going to give you a cost of living allowance because we know you are catching it. He who feels it knows it.”

“Change is going to come for those of you who the bank harasses. Change is also going to come for those of you who come out early on a morning having to leave home at 5:30 and 5:45 because you know the bus that use to come at 7 o clock in the morning might not come. Change is going to come for you people in Six Men’s garbage build up for two and half almost three weeks. Change is going to come for those of you who cannot go to the bank or credit union and get a loan to start a little small business,” she said to loud applause and cheers.

Mottley accused the ruling Democratic Labour Party of only looking out for themselves, their family and friends.

She said that if elected, the BLP is not only going to shield all Barbadians from the elements but they are going to lift them up. (IMC)

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Barbados Labour Party candidate and son of the soil Colin Jordan says his journey to the House of Assembly will be for the people of St Peter.

The tourism expert made the declaration at a political meeting in Speightstown Saturday night after making his way to the stage amidst cheers from a jubilant group of placard bearing, singing and dancing supporters.

“I am standing here tonight in the footsteps of great people who have gone before. I pledge to you that after the night of May 24, 2018 I will be a great representative for all of you,” he said to loud cheers.

After giving a brief history lesson about Speightstown, Jordan admitted that he was not taking the journey alone but would be drawing on the greatness of St Peter icons who had gone before him.

“I stand before you conscious that even though I am 6ft 6 inches tall, I am but a dwarf standing on the shoulders of great men and women who have gone before me in this great parish and constituency of St Peter. I speak to you about giants like JTC Ramsay, a carpenter who has the distinction of being the first tradesman ever to enter the House of Assembly. He entered the House representing St Peter. I speak to you understanding that I sit on the shoulders of a giant like Kenmore Husband, the first black speaker of the House of Assembly.”

He continued: “I stand on the shoulders of people like the Farm Road man Frank Walcott considered a giant in industrial relations, a giant in the labour movement, a national hero. I stand on the shoulders of giants like the long serving Speaker of the House Walter Clare Burton Hinds. I stand on the shoulders of a Rose Hill man [former prime minister] the right honourable Owen Seymour Arthur who successfully led a Barbados Labour Party Government from 1994 to 2008.”

The new comer to elective politics admitted that the task ahead will not be easy.

“I offer myself to you recognising that leading in St Peter and representing the people of St Peter is an awesome task. It is a weighty responsibility but I offer myself to you. I stand here to tell you this evening that I can do it because I stand on the shoulders of giants….” (IMC)

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Sea Breeze Beach House has been officially reopened for business after closing for a BDS$17 million facelift.

Speaking during the reopening ceremony on Thursday evening, General Manager Patricia Affonso-Dass expressed her delight to celebrate the reopening after a year of renovations.

“The transformation has taken our property from very good to extraordinary,” Affonso-Dass said.

In her brief address to those gathered at the hotel, which included Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy; CEO BTMI Billy Griffith; and Group CEO Peter De Freitas, Affonso-Dass said tourism is the lifeblood of the Barbados economy.

“The investment we have made in Sea Breeze Beach House showcases our commitment to the industry,” she said.

The general manager reported that over the course of the 12 months, they completely transformed all 78 existing rooms, now referred to as their “classic collection”, with totally renovated bathrooms, furnishings, amenities, lighting and artwork.

They have also added 44 “super comfortable” ocean front junior suites and multi-bedroom suites.

“Our principal motivation was to ensure that in all that we did, that we highlighted and showcased an experience that was truly Bajan,” Affonso-Dass added.

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The Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Sunday ruled that a St Lucia-born academic should be registered as an elector to cast a ballot in the May 24 general elections in Barbados and warned the Chief Elections Officer that failure to carry out the order by midday on Monday, May 14, could land her in jail for contempt of court or be fined.

In an unprecedented hearing, the CCJ, which is the Barbados final court, said that Eddy Ventose, a professor of law at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), had satisfied “the necessary legal and regulatory conditions for registration as an elector”.

In the ruling of the five-member panel of judges, read out by the CCJ President Sir Dennis Byron, the court told Mrs Angela Taylor, the Chief Electoral Officer “shall register or cause the applicant to be registered as an elector before 12 noon on Monday, the 14th day of May, 2018”.

Sir Dennis said that if Taylor "does not comply with the order, you may be held to be in contempt of court and you may be imprisoned and or fined”.

Barbadians go to the polls on May 24 to elect a new government with the contest expected to be between the ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP) headed by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart and the main opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) headed by Mia Mottley, who is seeking to become the first woman head of government in Barbados.

Election day workers, including police, will cast their ballots on May 17.

Political observers had said that the matter before the CCJ, which is Barbados’ highest court, has implications not only for the appellant but also for Commonwealth citizens, living in Barbados, who want to be registered to vote in the general elections.

Ventose, who has lived in Barbados for several years, sought to be included on the Barbados electoral register. He had alleged that under the prevailing laws he is qualified and entitled to be registered.

The Court of Appeal last week ruled that Ventose was entitled to be registered to vote but stopped short of compelling the Chief Electoral Officer to do so, instead, ordering the Chief Electoral Officer to determine Professor Ventose’s claim within 24 hours.

Ventose had asked the CCJ to declare that his name should be on the final voters’ list ahead of its publication this week.

The CCJ said that the request for appeal came late Friday and it responded by scheduling the hearing for Sunday.

Sir Dennis said the application for special leave to appeal filed on May 11 had been granted as well as the application “to treat this hearing as an urgent matter".

“The application for special leave to appeal is being treated as the substantive hearing of the appeal,” he said, adding “the appeal is allowed and the orders of the Court of Appeal are set aside”.

Sir Dennis said that the CCJ is satisfied that the applicant has locus standi . . . under the Administrative Justice Act … to bring judicial review application under Section three of the act.

“The long standing policy of the Electoral and Boundaries Commission in relation to Commonwealth citizens to register as electors … is unlawful and ultra vires. The Court is satisfied that on the basis of judicial finding pronounced in this matter, which has not been appealed, the applicant has satisfied the necessary legal and regulatory conditions for registration as an elector,” Sir Dennis said.

The costs for this court and the court below were awarded to the appellant. - CMC

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Barbados Labour Party leader, Mia Mottley, has explained that her party’s announced plan to reprofile the island’s debt should it win the May 24 elections, is intended to make more money available for vital needs.

Speaking at a BLP national rally at Baxter’s and Westbury roads last night, Mottley explained that through reprofiling, more money is freed-up to enable promised increased pensions, small business loans, and at the same time a reduction in taxes among other initiatives. She also said her government will have a longer period to repay the national debt at a much lesser rate.

Mottley said that currently Government has $4.5 billion to spend annually but the problem is “they spend now more money in interest rates than they spend in wages for the entire central government”.

[caption id="attachment_237256" align="alignnone" width="650"] BLP leader Mia Mottley speaking last night at Baxter’s and Westbury roads.[/caption]

She said that excluding the statutory boards, the entire wage bill for all the ministries adds up to some $780 million

“But the interest, not the principal … for government’s debt is $790 million,” she added.

“You need to bring down the interest costs because if you are spending all that money on interests you ain’t got no money left to buy drugs for the hospital, to buy food for the school meals. You ain’t even got money left to feed the people up at the prison.”

Mottley pointed out that when faced with such circumstances the normal thing to do for persons managing a household, business or country is to approach a lending agency and extend the payment to a longer period at a lower amount, thereby freeing up money to take care of urgent and pivotal needs.

Positing this as a sensible idea, she asked “how can a government ignore it for the last four years?”

She pointed out that Government has in the past been advised on the wisdom of re-profiling the debt to bring it to manageable proportions.

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Incumbent St James North Barbados Labour Party (BLP) candidate Edmund Hinkson has told party faithful that relief is certain if his party is elected.

“Come September we will pay tuition fees at the UWI [University of the West Indies]. The Barbados Labour Party will remove some of those taxes. We will remove that NSRL tax one, of the most iniquitous taxes ever in the history of Barbados. We will pay reverse tax credits. We will increase non-contributory old age pension by 50 per cent. You will have more money in your pockets. Your children will be better off. You will be able to do a lot more than you can do now,” he said at a meeting in Speightstown, St Peter Saturday night.

He lambasted the ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP) for collecting billions in taxes but failing to see after the needs of the people.

“They have collected $26 billion in taxes. You see anything for the money they collected from you? You see any new highways, fly overs, new hospital or new schools?”

Hinkson urged Barbadians to rally around the party since the journey ahead would not be a quick fix. However, he vowed the people will be an integral part of the process.

“It will not happen overnight but together with you. You will be part of the process. We will bring you in. We will involve you in People’s Assembly, every six months or less we will meet with you. I Edmund Hinkson will come before you and you can tell me what is going on. That is how our manifesto was formulated. For the past three years we have been rubbing shoulders with you and listening to you.”

The attorney at law told supporters to go out and vote in their numbers come May 24 to help the BLP secure a landslide victory.

“We don’t want to hear you need a strong opposition so this candidate for the DLP should get in. You vote for a Government not the opposition. The opposition will take care of itself. We had three opposition members after the 1986 election and those three run rings around the 24 DLP members.” (IMC)

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Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler Sunday night sought to make it clear to Nigerian businessman Benedict Peters and Barbados Labour Party (BLP) leader Mia Mottley that they would have to "kill" him in order to silence him in Barbados.

"Nobody from Sandy Lane or who born up in Sandy Lane could frighten anybody from Black Rock," Sinckler warned Mottley during the Democratic Labour Party's (DLP) meeting at Carlisle House car park, The City.

[caption id="attachment_237271" align="alignnone" width="650"] Benedict Peters[/caption]

Responding to a pre-action protocol letter issued by Leslie Haynes, QC, on behalf of the African billionaire, who is threatening to sue Sinckler over charges he made on the political platform last week, the St Michael North West candidate also said:

"Let me tell Mr Peters and Mr Leslie Haynes that there is nobody from Nigeria that can silence Chris Sinckler in Barbados. Can't happen! I born here. My navel string buried here and nobody gine come from Nigeria and try to bully me into silence in Barbados. They would have to kill me first! Can't happen!" he said before tearing up a copy of the legal document sent to him by Peters' attorney.

"Tell Mr Peters and them, this is Democratic Labour Party territory and we are not allowing them to silence us, because we have to know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth," he said to rousing applause from the large gathering of DLP supporters who had converged on the old stomping ground of the BLP.

[caption id="attachment_236382" align="alignnone" width="650"] Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler[/caption]

It was during the official launch of the DLP's campaign for the May 24 general election a week ago that Sinckler had charged that Peters had held talks with members of the BLP and had called on Mottley to come clean on the matter, while making veiled references to Boko Haram.

However, Mottley has not budged.

But while suggesting that "there was more than one way to skin a cat", Sinckler on Sunday pointed out that in the legal letter, the billionaire had actually confirmed that he had met with the Opposition Leader "Ms Mottley [in the Prime Minister's suite at the Hilton Barbados Resort] while on a family vacation in Barbados and the two discussed global affairs and investment opportunities in Barbados and the wider Caribbean".

In response to this, Sinckler questioned why, based on his stated interests, Peters had not met with the Prime Minister and other senior Cabinet ministers, including himself as Minister of Finance.

However, Peters, through his attorney, said that "since that meeting, back in September of 2016, he has not met with or had any contact with Ms. Mottley or any member of the Barbados Labour Party.

"Indeed, he does not today have a phone number, email address nor other direct contact information for Ms Mottley or any member of the leadership of the BLP, and, has definitely not contributed, in cash or kind, to the campaign of the BLP, neither before nor since that meeting in September 2016.

"I call upon you on or before 15 May 2018, to withdraw and retract the defamatory statements and their imputations made by you and apologize to my client in terms to be approved by me, for your defamation of him. If you do not comply with the demands in the preceding paragraph, please be advised that my client will forthwith take such action against you as he may be advised including commencing proceedings in the High Court of Barbados for damages, an injunction and legal costs. In the meantime, my client reserves all his rights in this matter," the letter added.

Peters also denied any links with Boko Haram, the notoriously renowned Islamic terrorist organization.

"In their natural, ordinary and innuendo meanings, your words mean and were understood to mean that – (a) my client is seeking improperly to influence the outcome of the 2018 general elections; (b) he is providing large sums of money to the Barbados Labour Party for the purpose of influencing the outcome of the said elections; (c) he is associated with a terrorist organization; (d) he is a criminal or has criminal propensities and/or is associated with Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist organization that kidnaps school girls; (e) he is anti-democracy and is prepared to use his money for the improper purpose of influencing the outcome of elections. The words used by you are completely false, baseless and malicious.

"They constitute a serious and grave defamation of my client personally and professionally. They have caused my client great hurt, distress and international embarrassment. My client has never contributed or offered to contribute money to the Barbados Labour Party, its leader Ms. Mia Mottley or any political or other organization in Barbados," the letter from Peters also states.

Attached is the document here

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As the campaign for the May 24 general election heats up, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart last night called on Barbados Labour Party (BLP) leader Mia Mottley to give account of millions of dollars in tax waivers which reportedly occurred under the last BLP administration, including a near half million dollar write-off to her dad.

“Elliott Deighton Mottley had two judgments lodged against him for monies due and owing to the Income Tax Department upwards of $1 million. In 1998, I walked in the Registry one morning and everyone had frowns on their faces. They were saying that here it is that we have to pay our taxes but yet over $400,000 of that tax obligation was being written off by the Owen Arthur administration,” said Stuart, who was addressing a Democratic Labour Party (DLP) meeting at Carlisle House car park, The City.

[caption id="attachment_237284" align="alignnone" width="450"] File photo of Mia Mottley and her father Elliott Mottley, QC.[/caption]

The Prime Minister however sought to distance his BLP predecessor from the dubious transaction, explaining that while Arthur had denied the request for the write-off, it was granted as soon as he left the country.

“My most diligent enquiries revealed that the matter had been raised with Arthur and he said, 'under no condition could that write-off be given', but as soon as he turned his back and travelled overseas, it happened," Stuart claimed, adding that "there was a certain stage in Arthur’s incumbency that he was afraid to go as far as St Vincent because he did not know what he would find when he returned".

While calling on Mottley to reveal who was behind the decision, the DLP leader also charged that in 2002, during the merger of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and Barclays, a circumvention by a member of the then Arthur Cabinet had cost the country $87 million in property transfer tax and stamp duty.

[caption id="attachment_236377" align="alignnone" width="650"] Prime Minister Freundel Stuart[/caption]

“The banks were informed that it was not just an issue of a change of name because it was revealed that Barclays was going to be selling its shares to CIBC and as a external company they were required to pay property transfer tax and stamp duty. [However] all of a sudden, the people at the Corporate Registry started receiving telephone calls from somebody that they described as Miss Mottley asking, 'why the transaction was taking so long,'” Stuart charged.

“The Prime Minister at the time, Mr Arthur, left the country on Government business and before the legal opinion from the Solicitor General’s Office could be gotten back, a waiver of property tax and stamp duty had been given to Barclays Bank.

"I don’t know who granted the waiver, but I know that my most diligent enquiries have revealed that the substantive Prime Minister was not in the island, so he could not have exercised any discretionary power under Section 86 of Financial Institutions Act," Stuart said, adding that "my intelligence has not disclosed that any other minister was calling at the Corporate Registry asking, 'why the thing is taking so long.'"

However, "the Treasury of Barbados had to forego the sum of $87 million,” he stressed.

Earlier in the night, Mottley's record was also put under the microscope by Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler, who charged that it was brought to his attention that she had sought to secure over a million dollars in legal fees for herself to the detriment of investors and shareholders in the Four Seasons project.

Minister of Transport and Works Michael Lashley, who was recently appointed a Queen's Counsel, also sought to have Mottley tried in the court of public opinion and found her "guilty" of mismanaging several projects which occurred under her watch, including the Crab Hill police station.

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Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Leader Mia Mottley has called for a Monday, May 21 meeting called by Needham's Point Holdings Limited on the sale of the Hilton Barbados Resort to be "stopped at all costs".

Addressing a BLP political meeting at Oistins, Christ Church last night, she suggested that such an important sale should not be taking place three days ahead of elections on May 24.

While questioning Government's haste to sell the property, she warned that the Freundel Stuart administration must not be allowed to “pick the duck back bare before elections”.

She therefore called on her supporters , if called upon, to turn out in their thousands at Needham’s Point to ensure that the meeting does not take place .

Earlier this month, Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler had disclosed that Government had found a buyer for the US $100 million hotel.

At the time, he assured that the property would not be sold below its most current valuation.

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There is still no consensus on a new Bishop of the Anglican Church of Barbados after a second round of balloting today.

After convening at 9:40 a.m Monday and meeting for over six hours at the Ivan Harewood Complex, Christ Church Parish Centre, the houses of clergy and laity decided to defer any further voting on the matter until a later date which is yet to be determined.

The announcement was by made by Diocesan Administrator Wayne Isaacs just after 4.p.m. today.

The two forerunners in the race are Reverend John Rogers, 45, rector of St George Parish Church and his senior Dr Jeffrey Gibson, 61, Dean of The Cathedral of St Michael’s and All Angels.

However, while the laity remains strongly in support of Rogers, the clergy is holding fast to its support for Gibson.

The 91-member House of Clergy is made up of all the priests from the Anglican churches in Barbados, while the 84-member House of Laity is made up of two representatives of Synod from each of the Anglican churches.

However to be elected Bishop, either candidate needs 51 votes from the clergy and 53 from the laity.

The first round of voting took place on April 25.

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Less than three weeks after Barbadian fishermen Kirton Watson and Michael Hawkesworth returned home after a month-long ordeal at sea, the two are to set sail again this week.

Watson, the captain of the vessel, Pearlita, today said if everything goes according to plan they would be heading for the high seas, less than a month after they were rescued by the Venezuelan coast guard.

[caption id="attachment_237349" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Fishermen Kirton Watson (left) and Michael Hawkesworth (right) are to set sail again this week.[/caption]

“Once I get some ice we will be going fishing again this week,” Watson told Barbados TODAY, adding that “since [they returned home on April 27] we haven’t been back on the water”.

The two left here on a fishing expedition on March 26 and soon ran into trouble. Unable to establish contact with anyone, they were feared lost by relatives and by fisherfolk here.

[caption id="attachment_237351" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Kirton Watson (left) and Michael Hawkesworth (centre) at the Grantley Adams International Airport on April 27 where they were greeted by Hawkesworth’s sister June Haynes (right).[/caption]

However, a month after they left home it emerged that their vessel had run aground in Venezuela on April 18 and they had been rescued by the coast guard in the South American country.

“Going out to fish I felt good because that is my trade. I wasn’t really scared because I like the water. I am a fisherman, this is what I do for a living. All I was worried about was the boat sinking. I told myself once the boat didn’t sink I can get back home, but if it sink I’m gone,” the 61-year-old Watson explained.

It was a weary but relieved Watson and Hawkesworth who arrived here on the evening of April 27 on a Caribbean Airlines flight, having left Venezuela the previous day.

With the exception of a few words from Hawkesworth, the two said nothing about the ordeal back then.

Today, Watson spoke publicly about the experience for the first time since stepping foot on home soil.

The St George fisherman said he had been through similar experiences several times in the past, but “this is the longest time it happen to me. This is the worst one since I was fishing”.

He told Barbados TODAY everything seemed normal when they left here, and things were going quite well.

“We caught fish and then all of a sudden we had all sorts of problems with our boat; the boat just won’t start. At one point we started to go adrift. The boat started to lean on a side, then we began to take out our essentials,” Watson said.

“I lost my shoes, bag, radio and clothes and $1,500. It could have got back the stuff but the sea water mashed them up,” he added.

Watson said every attempt to attract attention failed, and they began to wonder whether anyone would heed their distress call.

However, relief would come in the form of the coast guard, whose officials took good care of them while arrangements were being made to fly them home.

“I put lights and flags in the air but the other boats refuse to come for us. I did everything, I light fire but from the time people saw the light I don’t know what happen but they just didn’t respond. All I was thinking was that they going to let me and Hawkesworth lose our lives for nothing. And what hurt me is that some of our own Bajan fishermen refuse to come for us,” he told Barbados TODAY.

“Nobody came to our help but the Venezuelan coast guard. They treat us really good I must say. They gave us food, made sure we got a bath and clothes. They even took us back to see the boat but everything was just gone,” the experienced Watson said.

“I glad I get to Barbados safe because nobody knew where we were,” he added.

anmargboyce@barbadostoday.bb

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Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur says it is highly unlikely that a Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Government would be able fulfil many of its campaign promises, including one its signature plans to reinstate free tertiary education, if it goes to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In fact, Arthur, who is a trained economist and former Minister of Finance for 14 years, warned today that instead of a repeal of tuition payments instituted by the current Democratic Labour Party (DLP) led administration, Barbadian students attending the University of the West Indies could be asked to pay both tuition and economic costs.

“I don’t think the Fund is going to support the payment of tuition fees for university education in Barbados. In fact, I think that the situation has gotten so bad [with the economy] that if you go to the Fund now, having just exhausted every opportunity, the Fund may tell the Government that they can no longer pay the economic cost,” Arthur told reporters during a press conference at Barbados TODAY’s, Manor Lodge, St Michael office this morning.

[caption id="attachment_237360" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Owen Arthur[/caption]

Arthur, who has been persistently recommending over the past two years ago that the island enters into a formal programme with the Washington-based IMF to stop the free fall of Barbados’ foreign reserves, argued that with the reserves now at $423 million, 5.1 weeks under the recommended 12 weeks of import cover, Barbadians should brace themselves for a no frills, rough ride under any programme agreed to with the Fund.

In 2014, amid serious economic challenges, the DLP implemented its decision for students attending the UWI to pay 20 per cent of their tuition costs, in effort to save Government $35 million per year. The move has resulted in hardship for many Barbadian students who have been forced to drop out of the tertiary institution.

However, last year at her party’s 79th annual conference, Mottley gave the commitment that a BLP Government would immediately repeal the DLP’s decision if elected in the upcoming poll.

This pledge has since made its way into the BLP’s 70-page manifesto released last week ahead of the May 24 poll, which also includes proposals for the abolition of road tax, removal of the National Social Responsibility Levy (NSRL), an increase in non-contributory old age pensions and an across-the-board pay hike or cost of living allowance for Government workers within the next three to six months.

During last Thursday’s BLP manifesto launch, Mottley also proclaimed that she was not afraid to go to the IMF if that were required to turn the ailing Barbados economy around.

However this morning, Arthur, who has had a hand in drafting Grenada’s successful IMF programme, argued that if Mottley were seriously considering the IMF as an option, it was a contradiction to speak of “lofty giveaways”.

The trained economist contended that the BLP’s promises were geared at winning an election but had not accounted for the reality of running a Government, which “likely has no option, but to go the Fund”.

“If you go to the Fund, you cannot feel as though it is a bed of roses,” Arthur cautioned, pointing out that “when [former Prime Minister] Erskine Sandiford went to the Fund in 1991 the choice was between devaluation or cut public sector wages by eight per cent.

“A new Government is not going to be able to cut wages because the Constitution now prevents that, but they would take the IMF’s money on the understanding that they would restore external and internal stability,” he said.

“That would mean accepting policies that would restore your reserves by US$500 million over a five year period,” Arthur explained.

However, he said “the problem is that Government gives a lot transfers so that state services can be maintained, such as free services at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and free secondary education. Those transfers are going to have to be adjusted under the IMF,” he said.

The former Prime Minister therefore suggested that Government would need to implement a combination of means testing, privatization of some state assets and tax incentives to encourage persons to save for health and education.
colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb

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Barbados Labour Party (BLP) economic advisor Clyde Mascoll is proposing that Government makes it mandatory for the hotel sector to pay a tax in foreign exchange in order to help shore up the island’s struggling international reserves.

The economist put forward the idea on Monday as he stoutly defended the BLP’s plan to restructure the country’s debt while removing the National Social Responsibility Levy, scrapping the road tax for a tax at the pumps, and reducing the Value Added Tax (VAT) from 17.5 per cent back to 15 per cent after two years, should that party form the next Government after the May 24 general election.

In its recently released manifesto, the BLP said it would also increase non-contributory pension, a plan which critics, including former Prime Minister Owen Arthur have dismissed as “pie in the sky” and “madness” that could force the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) into bankruptcy.

However, taking part in a Barbados Economic Society (BES) forum today at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Plans for Economic Adjustment: Post General Election, Mascoll insisted that the BLP’s proposals were sound.

“The notion that a policymaker would seek to bankrupt the NIS or seek to advise a Government with such recklessness is unfounded,” said Mascoll, while insisting that there was need for the tax system to be simplified, and anyone who did not understand the proposal of replacing the road tax with a tax at the pumps “must be someone who doesn’t want to listen”.

Mascoll said in addition to the proposed changes in taxes, Government would also have to address the high debt and falling reserves through “a mixture of defensive attacks”.

“We are proposing that there has to be some kind of reform, simplification of the tax system in a way that permits us to not only defend, but to attack,” he said, adding that the most sustainable way for growth in the economy would also require capital expenditure by Government and private sector investment.

The university lecturer suggested that Government makes legislative changes in an effort to make hoteliers pay a tax in foreign currency, pointing out that there was speculation that the country was not getting enough of the earnings from the sector.

“The taxation in tourism can be rejigged and altered in such a way that you ask or make the hoteliers pay a tax in foreign exchange. If there is a room tax on a hotel, the tourist pays that tax. A VAT should not discriminate,” he said.

“What could be so wrong in asking the hoteliers to pay some of their tax in the form of foreign exchange. What will happen is that money then goes directly to the Central Bank through the Treasury. So you don’t have to wait until a commercial bank feels its okay to sell the Central Bank,” the former Central Bank employee said.

He questioned why Government was reporting that the tourism sector was performing “extremely well”, but at the same time saying that global economic environment was “responsible for our plight”.

“I have been trying to figure this out now for a decade. How it is that the external environment is responsible for Barbados’ bad position, but yet still tourism is growing. I have not yet been able to reason it out,” Mascoll said.

In his presentation, leader of Solutions Barbados Grenville Phillips II warned that the country was on the brink of economic ruin, while insisting that it was a result of mismanagement on the part of successive Democratic Labour Party and BLP administrations.

Highlighting the country’s high debt, and “excessive” borrowing by the last administration, Phillips suggested that if Government wanted to go to the IMF for assistance it should have done so “no later than 2009 when people still had sufficient savings to cushion the foreseen austerity”.

He said three years ago Solutions Barbados had published its “non-austerity option” that would provide the island with “a surplus in our first year”, adding that it was independently assessed and deemed “workable”.

Phillips said that economic plan did not require debt restructuring, but without giving details, said it would call for addressing “the structural issues in the economy”, “without laying off a single civil servant [and] without reducing any of their salaries”.

It would also include the “elimination” of the VAT.

However, Mascoll dismissed the plan, saying it was “voodoo economics” because it was impossible to realize a surplus without the VAT, which was one of Government’s most significant revenue earning measures.

“I heard some voodoo economics earlier that you can get rid of a billion dollars in VAT and still have a surplus and there is no austerity. I need to find which planet I can go to in order to understand that economics,” said Mascoll.

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